Links & Commentary 3/15

Ohio voters switching party affiliations ahead of the primary; what really happened at the Trump rally; Hillary gets authentic; What was Bernie doing during the drafting of Hillarycare? Obama’s foreign policy legacy…

U.S. Fate 2016

Capitol Insider: Thousands switching party affiliation on eve of Ohio primary[Columbus Dispatch]
No idea what this means. But we’ll know within the next 24 hours…

How Bernie Sanders supporters shut down a Donald Trump rally in Chicago[MSNBC]Protesters interrupt virtually every Trump speech. But what made Chicago different were its scale and the organization behind the effort.

An Eyewitness Report from the Thwarted Trump Rally[Naked Capitalism]
Posted Yves. As always, be sure to read the comments. Naked Capitalism has some of the most thoughtful and well-informed comment on the Internet.

Campaign 2016 is on a dangerous descent[WaPo]
Dan Balz draws a comparison between the conflicts at Trump’s Friday night rally in Chicago and violent protests outside the DNC convention in 1968 over the Vietnam War. “The flash points in today’s politics are more diffuse, but the political divisions are no less real,” he writes. This sixties thing again. Notice how it keeps coming back? I promise that I will write an article explaining how planetary cycles that began in the mid-sixties are reaching a critical point in the 2010s. Friday night’s transit chart pulls together several cycles into one big party, no pun intended.

Clinton says she’ll be a better president than candidate[The Hill]
This is something new we’re hearing from Hillary, and while it might seem like yet another calculated ploy to fix her “likeability” problem, it fits with her natal chart. That’s especially true if the 8:02 a.m. birth chart that most astrologer use is correct, but even if it’s not, campaigning would be painful for a triple Scorpio (Sun, Venus, and Mercury; she also has Chiron and the lunar South Node in Scorpio) with Moon in Pisces. Scorpio can be prickly and hypersensitive to criticism, while Pisces often feels exposed, which can result in overcompensating to protect its soft underbelly. Conversely, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are both Leos, the sign that revels in the limelight and knows how to press the flesh better than anyone else. From my point of view as an astrologer, this is the most authentic admission I’ve heard from Hillary Clinton. Maybe she and her team finally understand that you can’t say and do things to make it look like you’re being real. You actually have to be real.

Say, Who Was That Mysterious Man Behind Hillary Clinton?[NYT]
It’s one thing to distort your opponent’s record. It’s what politicians do. But before you go there, you probably should have your staff check to make sure there’s not a video online to prove you’re wrong, because you can bet that it will surface within seconds in the social media. This instance was particularly embarrassing. Nice try on Palmieri’s comeback, but she can’t spin her way out this one. Clinton’s point wasn’t that she was out front – which no one would have disputed – but that Sanders wasn’t in the fight at all. If Saturn were on her campaign staff, he would remind Her Candidateship of an incident in the not-so-distant past:

The Clinton campaign just made a serious mistake. They sent Hillary and Bill Clinton’s daughter Chelsea out on behalf of her mother to bash Senator Bernie Sanders on the issue of health care.

When Bernie met Hillary[Politico]Long before challenging Clinton, Sanders reached out to her on health care. He got nowhere. This story is from last year, but it’s a commendable bit of reporting. Saturn would add to his reminder a warning not to let the past come back to bite you in the ass.

Hillary Clinton’s Response To Honduran Coup Was Scrubbed From Her Paperback Memoirs[HuffPo]Critics argue the secretary of state’s efforts paved the way for the violence still plaguing Honduras.

Supporters leave county Democratic convention in frustration[KCCI, Des Moines]
More shenanigans in Iowa, with official information at odds with eyewitnesses, some of whom supplied photographic evidence. Both camps were unhappy with the results; Sanders supporters complained that he started out ahead and that party officials changed the rules in the process to favor Clinton, while Clinton supporters believe she should have received more delegates in the final count. The results will be contested at the next level. KCCI’s report has links to live reports from delegates but lacks some basic information about the process, which you can find in The Des Moines Register.

Don’t Believe the Bullshit: Trump is Not the Answer[Ron Jacobs, CounterPunch]
Like Ron Jacobs, I’m reading a lot of this, too, mostly in comment sections of left-oriented news sites. Ron suggests a different direction, and one I’ve thought about, just not in this way. Bernie Sanders’s natal chart suggests that he has an important mission in this incarnation. That doesn’t necessarily mean being president of the United States, but could refer to leading a powerful political movement. What Ron is suggesting fits in with this theme.

Phobos & Deimos

Putin Orders Start of Syria Withdrawal, Saying Goals Are Achieved[NYT]The announcement on Monday surprised people on all sides of the conflict. State Department officials, Syrian antigovernment activists, Mr. Assad’s supporters and Syrian opposition negotiators all reacted with disbelief, not sure whether to lament, celebrate or laugh.

The End of the U.S.-Dominated Order in the Middle East[The Atlantic]
Written by the executive director of the conservative Brookings Institute, but thought provoking. This article and the following link were both written in response to an earlier article examining President Obama’s foreign policy legacy.

Ceres

Scientists Are Making Stronger Links Between Climate Change and Extreme Weather[Time]

The Gangbanksters

Oil Prices: What’s Behind the Drop? Simple Economics[NYT]There are a number of conspiracy theories floating around. Even some oil executives are quietly noting that the Saudis want to hurt Russia and Iran, and so does the United States — motivation enough for the two oil-producing nations to force down prices. Dropping oil prices in the 1980s did help bring down the Soviet Union, after all. But there is no evidence to support the conspiracy theories . . .

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First-term Democratic Senator Kamala Harris of California, a rising party star and outspoken critic of President Donald Trump's immigration policies, launched her 2020 campaign for the White House on Monday by touting her experience as a prosecutor.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration, where employees are going unpaid amid a partial government shutdown, said on Monday that unscheduled absences among U.S. airport security officers rose to a record 10 percent on Sunday as the shutdown reached its 31st day.

U.S. President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani backtracked on Monday from earlier comments that Trump pursued a business deal to erect a tower bearing his name in Moscow throughout 2016, saying his statements "were hypothetical and not based on conversations I had with the President."

The Transportation Security Administration said Monday that unscheduled absences among the more than 50,000 U.S. airport security officers rose to 10 percent on Sunday as the government shutdown continues.

President Donald Trump said on Sunday his proposed immigration deal to end a 30-day partial government shutdown would not lead to amnesty for "Dreamers," but he appeared to signal support for amnesty as part of a broader immigration agreement.

U.S. President Donald Trump pursued a business deal to erect a tower bearing his name in Moscow throughout 2016, his attorney said on Sunday, raising new questions for congressional investigators looking into possible ties between the president and Russia.

U.S. President Donald Trump proposed an immigration deal on Saturday in a bid to end a 29-day partial government shutdown, including temporary protections for "Dreamers" and other immigrants, but Democrats immediately dismissed it.